john kerry goes head-to-head against russian foreign minister sergey lavrov right now. they are trying to find a peaceful solution to the standoff. kerry and lavrov are meeting alone. here at home defense secretary chuck hagel says they are ramping up a joint training exercise in neighboring poland. he plans to speak with his ukrainian counterpart later today. chief white house correspondent ed henry is live at white house. one of our big stories today, ed. we have critics who say they haven't heard enough from the white house. >> reporter: you heard this familiar refeign from republicans on a whole host of foreign policy issues that the president is not leading. the president rejections that. he says the crisis hopes to be resolved next few days or next few weeks. he left a short time ago, the president, to connecticut to do an event pushing hike in minimum wage leaving to his defense secretary chuck hagel to go to a senate panel and defend big cuts to the defense budget. republican john mccain sarcastically told hagel his timing is exquisite to be cutting the defense